Three Ways to be Brilliant, 10 Minutes at a Time

It’s hard not to feel the pinch of vital activities, pleasant and otherwise, that appear have little or nothing to add to our writing careers. Our weeks are demanding. But if we are to be writers, we need to keep our minds engaged with the writing process throughout the busy week, even if it’s only for a few valued moments in the day.

Here are three ways to be brilliant, 10 minutes at a time.

Search for an exchange of dialogue. Take out all the thinking this or doing that and isolate the actual dialogue. Identify and strengthen if possible the shift in power among those speaking, and move the reactions to before and after the dialogue.

Take a look at an especially descriptive bit. If it doesn’t come during a how are we not what we were reflective moment, or during the POV character’s pursuit of his or her goal, consider moving it.

Read the first paragraph of your book, your chapter, or your scene. Find the most vital sentence there. Figure out how to move it to the start. Do the same for the last page or paragraph of your book, your chapter, or your scene. Figure out how to move the great line to the end.

Small but powerful revisions for the work-in-progress gain us steady progress, as we move closer to our writing goals with every busy day.